Emmons receives outstanding alumni award
PLATTEVILLE - Virginia Emmons, a 1999 alumna of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, will receive the UWP Outstanding Alumni award during a recognition luncheon on commencement day, Saturday, Dec. 13. The award recognizes UWP alumni who have gained excellent professional accomplishment since their graduation in the last 15 years.
Emmons is the co-founder and executive director of Educate Tomorrow, an international nonprofit organization that provides educational opportunities to disadvantaged persons, domestically and internationally. The stated mission of Educate Tomorrow is "to make education an attainable goal for the most disadvantaged in our world." To that end, the corporation has established a primary and an adult language school in Niger, West Africa, and established a dormitory 20 kilometers from the village so that students may attend the only middle school in the region. In the U.S., Educate Tomorrow has matched teenagers in foster programs with adult mentors, provides a life skills camp called It's Your Life for young people, and has been named a model program by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Among her many duties, Emmons is in charge of grant writing, development, fundraising, staff management, public relations and program evaluation. She recently helped a similar program, Praxis, to open an office in Minneapolis, Minn. and hopes to have a non-profit office open in Milwaukee in the future.
Prior to this, Emmons worked as an organizational consultant for the Miami Rescue Mission in Florida. There she directed the national certification a of $12 million homeless rejuvenation program for men, women and children. She also worked as a Peace Corps volunteer and as a volunteer in a domestic abuse center in Platteville. For her efforts, Emmons has been awarded the Junior League of Miami's 2006 Women Who Make a Difference Award and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center's 2007 Pepsi Everyday Freedom Hero Award. A world traveler, Emmons speaks fluent Zarma, the indigenous language of Niger, and has a working knowledge of five other languages, including Tadawsak, a language spoken by the Taureg slave tribe with whom she lived and worked while building in Africa.
During her time at UWP, Emmons majored in international studies, geography and German and minored in Spanish and women's studies. She was captain of the varsity soccer team and studied abroad in South Korea, Germany and Costa Rica through UWP exchange programs.
"I loved my experiences and memories of Platteville," said Emmons. "It has really shaped who I have become today. I am humbled to receive an award from a place that has already given me so much."
Contact: Kim Schmetz, director, Alumni Services, (608) 342-1970, schmelzk@uwplatt.edu Written by: Russ Brickey, UWP Department of Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, brickeyr@uwplatt.edu
<< Home